‘Is it because I’m overweight?’ – Darts star opens up on Premier League snub heartache

James Wade is still hurting at being overlooked to compete in the Premier League for a fourth year running.

The 42-year-old won the three-month long tournament in 2009, but hasn’t been named in the eight-player competition since 2022.

Wade was one of the leading contenders to be included this time around having reached the finals of the UK Open and World Matchplay in 2025.

He even picked up a Pro Tour title, but following his second round exit at the PDC World Championship, the world no.11 was snubbed by the PDC.

Speaking at the start of the month, ‘The Machine’ opened up on his frustration at the Premier League’s selection committee.

And following his opening 3-2 round win against Madars Razma at the Winmau Darts Masters – a major he won in 2014 – he once again opened up on his pain at missing out.

In a brutally honest press conference, Wade, who is third on the list of all-time major winners with 11, speculated to his wife on whether his weight played a part in him not being selected, along with his age and personality.

He even suggested that only three players performed better than he did consistently in 2025, with Luke Littler, Luke Humphries, Gian van Veen and Michael van Gerwen sharing the single majors between them.

Wade-ing in

Commenting on how important the Masters can be in terms of having a strong season, Wade said: “It’s as important as all the others, we’ll just see what happens.

“I had a disappointing back-end to last year, I didn’t get the pick for anything, had a disappointing World Championship, but I had a bloody good year.

“So it’s kind of hard to gather ground and gather a bit of momentum even though I was good last year, so it’s a game of restarting.”

Pressed on whether he was bitterly disappointed over his Premier League snub, he remarked: “Of course, there’s only three players that did better than me.

“So the statistics and stats don’t lie… I said to my wife, ‘Is it because I’m overweight?’ No, because there’s someone else that’s this size.

“‘Is it because I’m old’?, No, because there’s someone else that’s there, ‘Is it because I’m not great looking?’, No, because there’s some others that are not-so-great looking.

“So it’s just obviously the way I am, I’m quite awkward as a character.

“It’s hard to chew when you have the condition that I have [Bipolar disorder] as it’s a complete kick in the privates and really knocks your confidence.

“It knocks you for six, as there’s no apparent reason why I shouldn’t have been in.

“But as a business, I wasn’t in their model, which is fair enough.

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“But for someone with mental illness, it’s quite hard to chew.”

Addressing his snub later in his press conference, Wade remarked: “It shouldn’t have to be where someone has to pick you.

“It should be where you do enough, and I believe I did enough.

“I did more than anyone else, apart from the top three or four.”

Wade now turns his attention to his second round meeting on Friday, where he will face long-time rival Gary Anderson.

Victory at the Masters would be the first PDC major he would have scooped since triumphing at the UK Open in 2021.